Less access to less information by and about the U.S. Government xxx: a 1998 chronology: january – June

ALA Washington Office Chronology

INFORMATION ACCESS

American Library Association, Washington Office

1301 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 403

Washington, D.C. 20004 -1701

Tel: 202-628-8410 Fax:202-628-8419 E-mail: alawash@alawash.org http://www.ala.org/washoff

June 1998

Less Access to Less
Information By and About
THE U.S. Government: XXX

A 1998 Chronology: January - June

Digitized by tiie Internet Arciiive
in 2010

http://www.archive.org/details/lessaccesstoless30amer

Less Access to Less Information By and About

THE U.S. Government: XXX

A 1998 Chronology: January - June

contents

Introduction 4

January

Director's resignation complicates plans for 2000 Census 5

Open meeting law violated by health care advisory

committee 5

Defense Department destroys evidence of soldier's

identity 5

Judge rules Air Force can invoke state secrets privilege 6

February

White House changes strategy to guard internal

documents 6

National Archives must reevaluate decision to give away

films 7

Librarians and archivists warn of the fragility of electronic

government records 7

More data needed to ensure equity in access to organs for

transplants 7

March

White House spokesman avoids gathering facts 8

Discrepancies found in records of campaign contributions 8

April

Editorial says "government keeps too many secrets" 8

State data disarray hampers evaluation of revised welfare

law 8

Unions charge Army imposing gag order on job

information 9

National Archives destroys Naval records; procedures to

change following misunderstanding 9

Controversial tobacco document pulled from congressional

Website 9

May

"Good and bad news" locating congressional hearings

online 10

0MB oversight faulted on implementation of electronic

freedom of information law 10

Citizen tries to make patent database freely available 11

CIA urges Congress to reject release of secret American files

on human rights violators 11

Census 2000 tests disappointing 11

House urges President to make documents public 1 1

Democrats join in urging President to cooperate with

congressional investigations 12

Intelligence agencies use "perception management program"

to spread misinformation 12

Classified report is central to congressional resolution 13

June

Federal government slow in fixing possibility of Year 2000

computer breakdowns 13

Intelligence agencies fail to forecast India's nuclear

explosions 13

Former Secretary of Energy cites reprisals against

whistleblowers 14

Obey decries difficulty in finding accurate pending bill 14

Government Performance and Results Act information

questioned 14

More Access during the same period

Department of Energy will adopt "culture of openness" 14

FCC requires long-distance carriers to provides information

about rates 15

Department of Justice agrees to release FBI crime lab

reports 15

CIA releases Bay of Pigs report after 37 years of secrecy 15

Vice President announces expansion of community right to

know about toxic chemicals 15

Archivist announces measures to make it easier for public

contributions to archival decisions 16

GAO report shows lobbyists disclosure law working 16

Wartime Japanese ambassador acts as unwitting source of

information to Allied forces 16

White House urges agencies to use plain language in

government writing 17

The COGI James Madison Awards honor

champions of the public's right to know 19

LESS ACCESS

JANUARY - JUNE 1998

Less Access to Less Information By and About

THE U.S. Government: XXX

A 1998 Chronology: January - June

introduction

For the past 17 years, this ongoing selective
chronology has documented efforts to restrict and
privatize government information. It is
distributed as a supplement to the ALA
Washington Office Newsletter and as an electronic
publication at http://www.ala.org/washoff/
lessaccess. While government information is more
accessible through computer networks and the
Freedom of Information Act, there are still
barriers to public access. The latest damaging
disclosures facing the Clinton Administration
involve allegations of concealing information and
claiming executive privilege. New reports
indicate that U.S. intelligence agencies are
studying ways to use computers and the Internet
to create misinformation directed at foreign
countries. Since the Internet has no national
borders, this raises troubling questions about
possible breaches of regulations that spell out
what can and cannot be done within U.S. borders.

Another development, with major implications
for public access, is the growing tendency of
federal agencies to use computer and
telecommunication technologies for data
collection, storage, retrieval, and dissemination.
This trend has resulted in the increased emergence
of contractual arrangements with commercial
firms to disseminate information collected at
taxpayer expense, higher user charges for
government information, and the proliferation of
government information available in electronic
format only. This trend toward electronic
dissemination is occurring in all three branches of
government. While automation clearly offers
promises of savings, will public access to
government information be further restricted for
people who cannot afford computers or pay for
computer time?

On the other hand, the Government Printing
Office GPO Access system and the Library of
Congress THOMAS system have enhanced public
access by providing free online access to
government databases.

Recognizing that some federal agencies are
succeeding in increasing public access to
government information, this update also includes
selected examples of such successes.

ALA continues to reaffirm its long-standing
conviction that open government is vital to a
democracy. A January 1984 resolution passed by
ALA's Council stated that "there should be equal
and ready access to data collected, compiled,
produced, and published in any format by the
government of the United States."

In 1986, ALA initiated a Coalition on
Government Information. The Coalition's
objectives are to focus national attention on all
efforts that limit access to government
information, and to develop support for
improvements in access to government
information. Since 1989, the Coalition has
presented the James Madison Award to champions
of the public's right to know. The awardees are
listed in this update.

With access to information a major ALA
priority, library advocates should be concerned
about barriers to public access to government
information. Previous chronologies were
compiled in two ALA Washington Office indexed
publications. Less Access to Less Information By
and About the U.S. Government: A 1 98 J -1 987
Chronology, and Less Access to Less Information
By and About the U.S. Government: A J 988- J 991
Chronology. The following selected chronology
continues the tradition of a semi-annual update. ♦

ALA WASHINGTON OFFICE

CHRONOLOGY

January

Director's resignation complicates plans

for 2000 Census

The resignation of the director of the Census
Martha Famsworth Riche complicates the
government plan to conduct an accurate Census in
2000, and intensifies questions of the ability of the
Census Bureau to avoid the problems of the
expensive 1 990 Census — ^which missed 1 0 million
Americans and counted 6 million twice or in the
wrong place.

The Census is used to determine which states
will gain or lose seats in the House of
Representatives, how districts for state and federal
legislative districts are drawn, and how billions of
dollars in federal aid are disbursed. A plan under
Riche 's direction to use statistical sampling to
estimate the portion of the population missed by
traditional counting methods ran into trouble in
Congress.

Republicans have attacked sampling as illegal
because the Constitution calls for an "actual
enumeration" of all residents of the United States.
Additionally, many Republicans are concerned that
sampling would result in a population estimate that
included larger numbers of minorities, potentially
redrawing electoral districts in a way that would
favor Democrats and threaten Republican control
of the House.

Riche said that she was tired of the legal and
political fights that have enmeshed the Bureau of
the Census and "putting out fires." Some fear that
Riche's resignation will make it difficult, if not
impossible, to prevail over Republican opposition
to sampling. (Holmes, Steven. "Weary of
Political Sniping, the Census Bureau Chief
Resigns," The New York Times, 13 January 1998,
All.)

Open meeting law violated by health care
advisory committee

According to the General Accounting Office, a
government technology advisory committee which
helps determine which new medical procedures
should be covered by Medicare has been meeting
behind closed doors in apparent violation of the
federal open-meeting law.

The advisory committee, which reports to the
Health Care Financing Administration , includes
members from the private sector in addition to
government employees and should have been open to
anyone in the public who wanted to attend. The
health care agency, in a letter to GAO, acknowledged
the panel was in apparent violation of open-meeting
laws and pledged that it would be revamped to
include only government employees, who are
allowed to meet privately.

"This is very troubling," said Ari Fleischer, press
secretary to the House Ways and Means Committee.
"It again raises questions about the administration
engaging in secret deliberations involving health care
decisions." (Harris, John E. "White House Advisory
Panel Meeting in Secrecy," The Washington Post, 17
January 1998, A8.)

Defense Department destroys evidence of
soldier's identity

Evidence suggests that the bones buried in 1984 at
Arlington National Cemetery may be those of Air
Force 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie, whose airplane was
shot down in 1972.

From the time a South Vietnamese recovery team
found an identity card, a wallet and other items near
a crash site in the jungles of Vietnam in 1972, a U.S.
government forensic laboratory in Hawaii believed,
but could not prove, that the remains belonged to
Blassie. It was an assessment they did not reveal to
Blassie's family.

In 1980, a Defense Department board reviewing
the status of soldiers missing in action reclassified
the remains, marked X-26, as "unidentifiable." To

LESS ACCESS • JANUARY - JUNE 1998

preclude the possibility that the identity of the soldier
could one day be questioned, the X-26 file was
destroyed. By then the ID and the wallet also had
been lost.

In 1984 under pressure from Vietnam veterans
groups, the Defense Department picked the remains
of X-26 to place at the cemetery. Only recently did
B lassie's family receive documentation explaining
the evidence the government originally had in its
possession. (Priest, Dana. "Unknown Soldier May
Be Identifiable, Pentagon Says," The Washington
Post, 21 January 1968, A12.) (Ed. Note: In May
officials decided to exhume the remains of the
Vietnam-era soldier buried in the Tomb of the
Unknowns for DNA testing to see if his identity
could be determined.)

Judge rules Air Force can invoke state
secrets privilege

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco
rejected efforts by a group of former government
employees to prove they were poisoned while
working at a mysterious Air Force base in Nevada.
About two dozen people who worked at Groom Dry
Lake base, led by two widows of civilian workers,
sued the Air Force and the Environmental Protection
Agency three years ago under ihe Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976.

The January 8 opinion, written by Judge Pamela
Ann Rymer, said that the state secrets privilege
invoked by the secretary of the Air Force made
discovery and trial on the claims of environmental
crimes "impossible." Notwithstanding a plaintiffs
ability to produce unclassified or even nonprivileged
evidence, if the "very subject matter of the action" is
a state secret, "then the court should dismiss the
plaintiffs action based solely on the invocation of the
state secrets privilege." Kasza v. Browner, 96-15535.

Lead defense attorney Jonathan Turley, a law
professor at George Washington University National
Law Center, said the suit sought information about
chemicals workers may have been exposed to so they
can seek appropriate medical treatment. The lawsuit
alleged that the government is covering up that

workers were subjected to rare and deadly industrial
toxins when the Air Force burned hazardous wastes
in open trenches in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The government's response was neither to confirm
nor to deny the allegations, but to declare them off-
limits. When the EPA conducted an investigation of
the site, 100 miles north of Las Vegas, President
Clinton signed a special exemption from the EPA's
duty to disclose publicly what it found — an
exemption that has been renewed annually, according
to The Washington Post. (Cox, Gail Diane. "Secrets
Privilege Scuttles USAF Suit: Claims by Ex-
Employees Gutted by 9th Circuit," National Law
Journal, 26 January 1998, A06.)

February

White House changes strategy to guard
internal documents

In 1997 the White House strategically released
entry logs, telephone records, notes and other internal
documents in part to preempt information from
congressional critics. For the president's alleged
relationship with Monica Lewinsky, the White House
has assembled many of the same types of records and
turned them over to independent counsel Kenneth
Starr.

But information about White House visits and
presidential phone calls made public last year is now
being guarded with fierce protectiveness. According
to White House officials, the change in strategy
reflects the different nature of the perceived threat.
"They've been much more circumspect," said White
House press secretary Michael McCurry speaking of
the lawyers who control the flow of information.
Key questions that presumably could be answered by
White House documents have been left unaddressed
in the public arena. (Baker, Peter. "White House,
Changing Tactics, Guards Records," The Washington
Post, 3 February 1998, A7.)

ALA WASHINGTON OFFICE

National Archives must reevaluate decision
to give away films

U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III ruled the National
Archives' decision to give away 56 boxes of film
about the American occupation of Okinawa was
"arbitrary and capricious." The "disposal decision
was based on an erroneous factual premise," he
wrote. The "conclusion that the films lack sufficient
'value to warrant continued preservation' [is], to say
the least unreliable."

The decision was a victory for Seiko Green, an
Arlington, VA researcher, who argued that the films
were historically unique and should be preserved.
The judge stopped short of ordering the Archives to
keep the 2,815 films, but he told the government to
reevaluate the collection's significance. Thus, Green
and other historians will get a chance to prove the
fihns are valuable before the Archives can proceed
with a plan to give the collection to a local
government in Japan.

"Only some of the millions of records generated by
federal officials... meet the tests of permanent value,"
said John W. Carlin, archivist of the United States.
"We concluded that these films do not.. ..But we will
respect the court's opinion by giving them a fresh
evaluation." (Masters, Brooke. "Researcher Wins
Lawsuit Against National Archives," The Washington
Post, 5 February 1998, D4.)

Librarians and archivists warn of the

fragility of electronic government records

According to an article in U.S. News & World
Report, the ability of current and future generations
to hold the government accountable is at great risk
because of the fragility of the records of Congress
and the Executive Branch in electronic formats. As
the records of government are increasingly in the
form of computer disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic
tapes, there is a growing recognition of the fragility
of these storage mediums and concerns about the
continued availability of the hardware and software
needed to read them.

Modem record keepers such as archivists and
librarians warn that electronic storage mediums are

turning out to be far less durable than parchment and
old-fashioned top-quality paper. The danger extends
to records related to health and human survival, for
example, studies of disease transmission or the
location of toxic-waste sites.

But the nation's cultural legacy is at risk since new
music, animated art, and early drafts of literature and
academic works are created and stored in computers.
Deanna Marcum, president of the Council on Library
and Information Resources, says that librarians and
archivists must think about preservation as soon as
new knowledge is generated-deciding what to save,
putting information into a common, standard format,
and recording what machinery and software were
used to encode the data. (Tangley, Laura. "Whoops,
there goes another CD-ROM," U.S. News & World
Report, 16 February 1998, 67-8.)

More data needed to ensure equity in
access to organs for transplants

In developments related to an item in a previous
Less Access chronology, Health and Human Services
Secretary Donna Shalala sent a letter to Congress
informmg them that the Administration plans to
revamp the nation's system for allocating livers to
people awaiting transplants.

The question of who gets available organs has
become one of the most contentious medical and
economic dilemmas in organ transplants. Currently,
livers for transplant are made available first to
patients within a local region, even if they are not as
ill as patients elsewhere.

Shalala wrote that she is preparing regulations that
will establish goals so that those most seriously ill
would received priority for available livers. The
goals would include improved equity of access
through more sharing and greater availability of data
from transplant centers so patients can make better
informed decisions. (Weiss, Rick. "HHS to Revise
Liver Allocation for Most-Needed Transplants," The
Washington Post, 27 February 1998, A2.)

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7

March

White House spokesman avoids gathering

facts

A seven-page article in The Washington Post
Magazine described how White House press
secretary Mike McCurry avoided helping reporters to
report on the charges of sexual encounters in the
White House. The author maintains that McCurry
stayed away from fact gathering, leaving that to the
lawyers, while he struggled to maintain credibility
with both the press and the president. (Kurtz,
Howard. "Spin Master," The Washington Post
Magazine, 8 March 1998, 11+).

Discrepancies found in records of
campaign contributions

According to a study by the Project on
Government Oversight, hundreds of thousands of
dollars m PAC contributions are unaccounted for,
improperly listed, or other missing from Federal
Election Commission data. The watchdog group
reviewed the FEC files of nearly 500 candidates in
the 1996 election and found that only four of those
candidates reported exactly the same amount of PAC
frinds that the PACs reported contributing to them.

The report stressed that the discrepancies appeared
to be due to flaws in the EEC's current disclosure
system, not an attempt by candidates to conceal
contributions. FEC officials said they could
eliminate some of the problems by making some
record-making changes and implementing other
reforms. (Keeler, Amy. "Report Slams Misleading
PAC Records," Roll Call, 9 March 1998, 3.)

April

Editorial says "government keeps too
many secrets"

An editorial in The Washington Post asserted that
the "Government keeps too many secrets. It keeps
material classified far too long. Excessive secrecy is
expensive, breeds popular distrust of government

withholds from historians, researchers and the voting
public information that is important." The editorial
supported pending legislation sponsored by Senator
Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) that would
establish a minimum standard of openness that would
bind presidential administrations.

The editorial staff observed that classifying
information "has been governed primarily by
executive orders that individual presidents could
change whenever they chose. This has allowed some
presidents to impose draconian secrecy rules, while
others have more relaxed rules without input from
Congress or the courts." ("The Secrecy
Legislation," The Washington Post, 10 April 1998,
A22.)

State data disarray hampers evaluation of
revised welfare law

Eighteen months after Congress revised the
nation's welfare law, it is becoming clear that the data
the government requires states to collect is in such
disarray that it is impossible to determine whether the
law is working. Serious computer computer
problems and other complications have hampered the
federal government in determining the extent to
which states are complying with the law by getting
welfare recipients into jobs.

The data is the only means by which Congress can
measure which states have effective programs. Tens
of millions of dollars are at stake since Congress
could dock states if they fail to move a certain
proportion of their caseload into jobs. Also in
question are large federal bonuses to be shared by
those states that are most successful at getting
welfare recipients into jobs where they stay and
advance. But states can define their caseloads
differently, use varying definitions, and choose which
information to submit to compete for the bonus.
Thus, when the federal government starts comparing
one state's data with another's, it is comparing the
statistical equivalent of apples with oranges.

Elaine Ryan, director of legislative affairs at the
association of welfare agencies, said that the
Department of Health and Human Services did not

8

ALA WASHINGTON OFFICE

tell states what information to collect until September
1997, but then required them to collect it dating to
July. "I do wonder what the heck they are doing,"
she said. "It's really frustrating."

State officials say they are overwhelmed with the
task of gathering all the numbers required by the
federal government. On the other hand. Senator Paul
Wellstone (D-MN) is among the legislators who
argue that the federal government knows too little
about what is happening to the millions of families
who have left the welfare rolls recently. "As
responsible policy makers, I would think we would
want to know how many of these families are
reaching economic self-sufficiency," Wellstone said.
"The fact of the matter is, very few states can tell me.
No one knows." (Vobejda, Barbara and Judith
Havemann. "States' Welfare Data in Disarray," The
Washington Post, 13 April 1998, Al.)

Unions charge Army imposing gag order
on job information

Union officials representing employees of the U.S.
Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort
Rucker, AL and Fort Bliss, TX, allege that gag orders
are being used to deny access to information about
possible reductions in force (RJF) to meet
downsizing goals.

The Metal Trades Council claims it has been
denied information and access to meetings about
whether a RIF will be necessary. They complain that
employees needed to know whether their positions
were targeted in a RIF before they could decide
whether to take a buy out or early retirement.

The unions contend that this is a violation of the
law as well as a violation of the unions' bargaining
agreement. As proof of a gag order, the unions point
to a March 2 video teleconference held by Command
officials where documents referenced "what's not
allowed:" The Army permits: 1 ) No announcement
of RIFs or position cuts to work force or union;
2) No discussion with the union or work force of
total reductions; and 3) No announcement of RIF
date. Army officials would say only that a RIF notice
had not been announced. (Daniel, Lisa. "Army 'Gag

Order' Alleged," Federal Times, 20 April 1998, 10.)

National Archives destroys Naval records;
procedures to change following
misunderstanding

The National Archives and Records
Administration released a 28-page report detailing its
destruction m the fall of 1997 of a vast collection of
the records of the Naval Research Laboratory.
According to the report, NARA destroyed 4,200
bound scientific notebooks and approximately 1 .5
million pages of correspondence and technical
memos.

The records covered the development of radar and
sonar and the early days of the U.S. space program.
The NARA investigation blamed a breakdown in
communication between the Archives and the Navy.
The report said the Archives thought the records
could be destroyed unless they met all the specified
criteria for their retention, while the Naval Research
Laboratory thought the records would be kept if any
of the criteria were met.

Henceforth, NARA will send the originating
agency a notice by certified mail when records are
scheduled for destruction. The report is on the
National Archives Web page at:
http://www.nara.gov/records/nrlrept.html
(Associated Press. "Archives error destroys naval
records," Washington Times, IS April 1998, A3.)

Controversial tobacco document pulled
from congressional Web site

After mounting thousands of secret tobacco
industry papers on their public Web site, the House
Commerce Committee removed a controversial 104-
page memo after R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
officials objected it being made public.

The memo described how RJ R's lawyers
suppressed research on the health hazards of smoking
over a 30-year period. The Committee held back 400
documents from the public in response to tobacco
industry pleas that the papers contained trade secrets
or were entitled to confidentiality because they had
been prepared by outside lawyers now working for

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JANUARY - JUNE 1998

the companies.

Over 39,000 secret tobacco industry papers were
released on the committee's pubhc Web site after a
Supreme Court decision upholding a Minnesota
judge's ruling the papers should be made public.
Subsequently, the committee posted the documents
online at http://www.house.gov/commerce
(Weinstein, Henry. "Tobacco Memo Pulled fi"om
House Web Site," The Washington Post, 27 April
1998, A4.)

May

"Good and bad news" locating
congressional hearings online

Finding Congressional committee hearings online
is conftising because the House and Senate have gone
their separate ways in providing electronic access to
them. There is little consistency between committee
Web sites. House and Senate information systems,
and between GPO Access and THOMAS — the two
main electronic gateways to Congressional
information.

One bright spot is the Goverrmient Printing Office,
which, in conjunction with the Senate, is putting up
complete hearing records with transcripts, prepared
statements, answers submitted to questions and other
materials for three Senate committees —
Appropriations, Environment and Public Works, and
Govenmiental Affairs. Plans are underway to
provide online hearing records for all Senate
committee by the end of the year.

The author includes a table of the various
activities of the committees and Congress outlines
the "good news/bad news" about accessing these
materials online. (McDonough, James. "Committee
Hearings Online Present a Conftising Face,"
Electronic Public Information Newsletter, May 1998,
33-35.)

0MB oversight faulted on implementation
of electronic freedom of information law

OMB Watch, a nonprofit research and advocacy
group, released a report about federal agency
implementation of the requirements of the Electronic
Freedom of Information Act (EFOIA) amendments
of 1996. The study indicates that, overall, agency
compliance with the EFOIA amendments has been
overwhekningly inadequate. The three overriding
reasons for this conclusion are the following:

1 . Congress has not provided the necessary
ftinding to implement the amendments.

2. The Office of Management and Budget has not
provided adequate guidance or assistance to
agencies during the implementation process.

3. By failing to comply ftilly with the EFOIA
amendments, agencies have yet to make
public access to government information a
priority.

The report observes that, with agencies delaying
implementation, the public is denied important access
to electronic files. Unlike paper files, electronic data
can be delivered instantaneously to the public
through the Internet, making research easier and less
time-consuming.

While critical of the majority of federal agencies,
the report applauds several agencies or departments
that have been exemplary at implementation of
EFOIA. For example, the Department of Defense
and the Federal Communications Commission
maintain excellent home pages to make research easy
and information accessible. The Small Business
Administration and the National Science Foundation
provide forms to submit FOIA requests online,
accelerating the public's access to federal government
information. Others such as the Veteran's
Administration accommodate a variety of low-tech
and high-tech users by using audio-visual and text-
only sites. To receive a copy of the study, "Arming
the People," contact OMB Watch at 202-234-8494.
(McDonough, James. "OMB Watch Takes Feds to
Task," Electronic Public Information Newsletter,
May 1998, 38.)

10

ALA WASHINGTON OFFICE

Citizen tries to make patent database

freely available

Carl Malamud, president of the nonprofit Internet
Multicasting Service, has challenged the federal
government to make the nation's patent and
trademark data base freely available. In a letter to
Vice President Al Gore and Commerce Secretary
William Daley he said that he would make the data
base available himself if the government fails to do
so by July 1, 1998.

"I'm going to buy the trademark data and will build
the user base as big as I can in a year," Malamud
said. "At the end of the year, I'll pull the rug out
from the users and give them Al Gore's e-mail
address."

Malamud's organization has successfully mounted
various other databases, including Securities and
Exchange Commission documents and various
databases, including information from the General
Services Admmistration, the Federal Election
Commission, the Federal Reserve Board, and the
Government Prmting Office. His organization ran
the S.E.C. and patent databases for 18 months.
Subsequently the S.E.C. took over the Web site
which now receives more than 500,000 hits a day.

Regarding Malamud's latest initiative, Bruce
Lehman, the commissioner of the Patent and
Trademark Office, said, "We'd do this tomorrow if
we had the ftmding. What Mr. Malamud wants to do
is permit people to download the entire database. If
he can do that we'd be out all $20 million we now
receive in fees. Why would anyone want paper?"

Dan Duncan of the Information Industry
Association was also critical of the idea. "The
government should be very cautious of going into the
provision of new information services of this
magnitude when there are already private providers
in the marketplace." Malamud's "crusade" highlights
the continuing dispute between those who advocate
widely distributing government databases that are
created at taxpayer expense and the thriving private
information industry that remarkets and resells the
information to business customers and libraries.
(Markoff, John. "U.S. Is Urged to Offer More Data

on Line," The New York Times, 4 May 1998, D6.)

CIA urges Congress to reject release of
secret American files on human rights
violators

In testimony before a subcommittee of the House
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight,
CIA official Lee Strickland urged Congress to reject
proposed legislation that would speed the release of
secret American files. Such a release could help
identify human rights violators throughout Latin
America Strickland argued. He also said that under
the proposed Human Rights Information Act,
"sources will be imperiled and the mission of the
CIA — to support the Congress and the president —
will be disadvantaged." He asserted that the ability
of the agency to recruit foreigners, gather secrets and
do business was on the line. The legislation would
require the CIA, State Department, Justice
Department, Pentagon and other federal agencies to
lean toward openness. (Reuters. "CIA Opposes
Release of Secret Files," The Washington Post, 12
May 1998, A07.)

Census 2000 tests disappointing

The results of the "dress rehearsal" for the 2000
census were disappointing because only 53 percent of
those receiving mailed questionnaires responded.
Despite a major advertising campaign by the Census
Bureau in the areas of California, South Carolina and
Wisconsin, where the test was conducted, the returns
fell far short of the hoped for 66 percent. Census
officials said that many American resist attempts to
be counted because of widespread distrust of
government, especially among minority and
immigrant groups. (Gribbin, August. "Compilers of
2000 Census Face Diminishing Returns," The
Washington Times, 18 May 1998, A 12.)

House urges President to make documents
public

The House of Representatives passed a nonbinding
resolution demanding that President Clinton make
public all legal documents involved in his effort to

LESS ACCESS • JANUARY - JUNE 1998

11

invoke executive privilege in the Monica Lewinsky
investigation, an assertion he has not even publicly
acknowledged making before. The White House
"brushed off' the House vote. White House
spokesman James Kennedy said, "The President has
and will continue to abide by his constitutional
obligations."

The House voted 259 to 157 to approve the
resolution which did not go as far as some wanted
because it did not seek to limit the use of executive
privilege in such circumstances. (Baker, Peter and
Juliet Eilperin. "House Demands Clinton Release
Executive Privilege Documents," The Washington
Po5r,22May 1998,A16.)

Democrats join in urging President to
cooperate with congressional investigations

A majority of House Democrats joined
Republicans in urging President Clinton and
Administration officials to cooperate more with a
growing number of congressional investigations. At
issue is the Administration's China policy a month
before the president is to visit China on a state visit.

Presidential aides said that Clinton hopes to quell
the rapidly escalating controversy over his approval
last February of a waiver to U.S. policy concerning
sending an American satellite into space on a
Chinese rocket. White House aides said the
president would divulge information, something his
congressional critics said he has failed to do. The
White House planned to send documents to the
House that will show there was nothing wrong with
the President Clinton's approval of the technology
transfer. (Eilperin, Juliet and John Harris.
"Democrats Ask Clinton's Cooperation In Probes, "
ne Washington Post, 22 May 1998, Al.)

Intelligence agencies use "perception
management program" to spread
misinformation

Federal intelligence agencies are studying ways to
use computers and the Internet to shape and
disseminate information designed to form public
opinion around the world. They are turning to

computers to develop more sophisticated ways of
manipulating and delivering digital photos, video
clips and recorded sound to portray fictitious events
which can in turn be broadcast to foreign countries
via the Internet.

For decades as part of its "perception
management" program, intelligence agencies have
created misinformation to try to cause political or
military change without direct political or military
involvement in countries where the United States has
vested interests, such as Iraq and North Korea. The
Office of Information Warfare, created in August
1996 with a staff of seven analysts, today has a staff
of 100 and a dedicated collection team established
within the Defense Intelligence Agency focused
solely on information operations and information
warfare.

An unidentified congressional staff member said
use of the Internet and video editing tools as a way to
shape public opinion in places such as Iraq "should
be just another part of the intelligence toolkit." For
example, intelligence agencies may wish to convince
a world leader that a massive invasion is imminent
by broadcasting manipulated video news clips
showing the presence of a much larger military force
than actually exists. The hope, said the congressional
source, is that by "having such a capability, we
would avoid having to actually deploy troops."

However, since the Internet knows no borders,
there may be risks involved, including possible
breaches of intelligence regulations which spell out
what the intelligence community can and cannot do
within U.S. borders. "Because it mvolves national
security, the risks are worth it," the congressional
source said.

Randall Whitaker, an analyst at the Air Force
Research Laboratory, said delivering propaganda via
the Internet is risky. By distributing those images
globally via the Internet, Randall wondered, "Who's
more at risk: the deceivers or the receivers?"
(Verton, Daniel. "Spies turn to high-tech info ops:
PCs, Internet used for manipulating images, public
opinion," Federal Computer Week, 25 May 1998, 1.)

12

ALA WASHINGTON OFFICE

Classified report is central to congressional

resolution

According to an Air Force intelligence assessment,
a classified report is central to the accusations that
concluded that U.S. security was harmed when
engineers from Loral Space and Communications
gave the Chinese a technical study on the cause of
the crash in 1996 of a Chinese rocket carrying an
American satellite.

Officials of the Department of Defense have
refused to make the report available to Congress, or
elaborate publicly on what kind or how much
damage was done to U.S. security, citing an ongoing
Justice Department investigation into the case. The
absence of details has left an opening for many
heated assertions. The House of Representatives
voted 364 to 54 to bar further U.S. satellite exports to
China, but those arguing that a damaging transfer of
space launch technology has occurred have only
fragments of evidence. (Graham, Bradley. "Chinese
Missile Gain Questioned," The Washington Post, 31
May 1998, A 1.)

June

Federal government slow in fixing
possibility of Year 2000 computer
breakdowns

The federal government is facing a significant risk
of critical computer breakdowns because several
Cabinet agencies have slowed in their progress on
computer repairs for the Year 2000.

For example, the Department of Health and
Human Services faces a shortage of skilled
programmers to work on Medicare computers. The
Defense Department has found problems that are
thwarting quick repairs to the software that plans
certain missile missions. The Treasury Department is
facing uncertainty with the system that processes
government-wide financial data because of
scheduling delays involving a private-sector
contractor.

The government's pace of repair work has alarmed
many computer industry analysts and has come under

attack by Republicans on Capitol Hill.
Representative Steve Horn (R-CA), chair of a House
subcommittee that has been examining the Clinton
Administration's Year 2000 efforts, asserted that the
current rate of repairs means that more than 40
percent of the critical systems will not be fixed by a
March 1999 deadline set by the White House,
Technology specialists warn that government
computer crashes could ripple through society.
(Chandrasekaran, Rajiv and Stephen Barr, "Agencies
Note Difficulties in Speeding Fix of 2000 Computer
Bug, The Washington Post, 3 June 1998, A2.)

Intelligence agencies fail to forecast India's
nuclear explosions

According to CIA Director George Tenet, U.S.
intelligence agencies and policy makers failed to
forecast India's nuclear explosions in May in large
part because of a "mind-set" that led officials to
conclude that the Indian government would not risk
the consequences of fulfilling a campaign promise to
conduct tests. Clinton Administration officials
learned of the tests when they were announced by the
Indian government.

Tenet appointed Retired Admiral David Jeremiah
to head a review panel to investigate why American's
multibillion-dollar spy agencies failed to predict
India's first nuclear tests in 24 years. Jeremiah told a
news conference that the country's spy agencies
should have ordered "mcreased coverage" of India
after a hard-line party came to power in March.
Calling the lapse "a serious problem," Jeremiah said
his report offered a series of recommendations for
more efficient management of the 13 agencies that
make up the U.S. intelligence community. He said
no officials should be fired for the failure. While he
summarized some of his findings for reporters, the
report was classified. (Pincus, Walter. "Spy Agencies
Faulted for Missing Indian Tests," The Washington
?05/, 3 June 1998, A18.)

LESS ACCESS • JANUARY - JUNE 1998

13

Former Secretary of Energy cites reprisals

against whistleblowers

During a May 19 deposition in connection with a
lawsuit by an Energy Department whistleblower,
former Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary
acknowledged long-standing practices of reprisal
against whistleblowers. "Once they have raised a
concern or an allegation with respect to safety or
integrity, they find themselves facing a very strong
and impenetrable stone wall," O'Leary said.
Typically, whistleblowers were called "the crazies"
and had their security clearance withdrawn, thus
inhibiting the individuals fi-om working in other
federal entities or for contractors. O'Leary said she
tried to eliminate retaliation against whistleblowers
during her tenure.

The lawsuit involves Joseph Carson, a safety
manager and critic of the agency, who sued to
prevent his transfer fi-om the Department of Energy's
nuclear facility in Oak Ridge, TN to Germantown,
MD. According to his attorneys and the Government
Accountability Project, Carson investigated and
criticized the closing and erasing of files on
documented safety deficiencies at Oak Ridge, as well
as suppressing of findings of a "chilled atmosphere"
about reporting safety concerns at the facility. The
hearing will continue at the end of June in District of
Columbia District Court. (Shuey, RJ. 'Tormer Energy
Chief Defends Whistleblower," Federal Times, 8
June 1998, 9.)

Obey decries difficulty in finding accurate
pending bill

According to a Roll Call editorial, when the
transportation bill came to the House floor in April, it
was impossible for anyone to tell fi-om published
documents what was and was not in the bill.
According to Representative David Obey (D-WI),
only one accurate copy of the bill existed. It was in
the House Rules Committee where Members would
go to page through it to find out whether their pet
projects were included or not. Citizens and the press
were purposely left in the dark except when
Members of Congress made the information public.

Obey observed, "Knowledge is power and the lack
of knowledge is powerlessness. If only the inside
fixers know what is going on, you might as well not
have a Congress." According to Roll Call, "If
knowledge is power and power corrupts, then what
we have in Congress is info-corruption, especially
when Congress's information practices are measured
against the promises of openness solemnly
enunciated when the GPO first took power." ("Info-
Corruption," Roll Call, 8 June 1998, 4.)

Government Performance and Results Act
information questioned

According to House Republican leaders, the
Government Performance and Results Act has not
produced reliable information for Congress to use in
budget or policy decisions. The 1993 statute was
intended to show taxpayers what they get for their
money as federal agencies develop "strategic plans,"
set goals, develop measures of progress and write
annual reports on how well they performed.

In a letter to the White House, Republican leaders
expressed fear that the reform effort could end up as
just another bureaucratic paperwork drill. They also
said that too many agencies lack data about their
programs, such as payment error rates or timeliness
of service, making it difficult to plan reasonable steps
to improvement.

House Democrats contend that Republicans played
politics with the Results Act this year by handing out
failing grades to most agencies in an attempt to
embarrass the Administration and Vice President
Gore as he prepares for the 2000 presidential
campaign. (Barr, Stephen. "GPO Sees No Results in
Results Act," The Washington Post, 9 June 1998,
A4.)

More Access during the same period

Department of Energy will adopt "culture

of openness"

U.S. Secretary of Energy Federico Pena announced
that the culture of keeping secrets in the Department
of Energy will end and a "culture of openness" will

14

ALA WASHINGTON OFFICE

be adopted. Hundreds of thousands of declassified
documents were released and two new rule changes
were announced that will expand and streamline
whistleblower protection for contract employees.

Energy officials said the classification reform will
reverse a Cold War-era rule that automatically
classified all information relating to the department's
nuclear program. As a result of this rule, the number
of classified documents would make a pile 23 miles
high if placed in one stack. Shoddy record keeping
makes it expensive and difficult to fmd many
documents. (Trimble, Steven. "Pena Declares End to
Secrecy at Energy," Federal Times, 12 January 1998,
9.)

FCC requires long-distance carriers to

provides information about rates

The Federal Communications Commission acted to
require long-distance carriers, beginning July 1, to
notify pay telephone users of their rate before the call
is connected. High prices for pay phone long-
distance calls are among the FCC's biggest source of
complaints, having received 5,000 angry letters on
the topic in the past two years. The agency cited
complaints of rates upwards of $5 per minute and
higher.

However, the new regulations will not necessarily
result in lower pay phone rates. Because pay phone
providers compete to offer service in airports, hotels,
restaurants and other locations, they must promise
ever higher commissions, which leads to higher rates.
"Unfortunately, operator services from pay phones
are a rare example of competition leading to higher
prices for consumers," said FCC Commissioner
Gloria Tristani. (Mills, Mike. "Long-Distance Pay
Phone Rates Must Be Disclosed," The Washington
?05/, 30 January 1998,01.)

Department of Justice agrees to release

FBI crime lab reports

The Department of Justice agreed to release some
200,000 pages of FBI crime lab reports and pay
$300,000 to settle a lawsuit with veteran FBI agent
and lab chemist Frederic Whitehurst. The settlement

was in response to Whitehurst's claim that the
Department spread false and derogatory information
about him for being a whistleblower. He promises to
use the documents to search out errors in the FBI
laboratory's past work.

Whitehurst, 50, gained notoriety when he publicly
criticized the lab's handling of evidence in several
major cases, including the World Trade Center and
Oklahoma City bombings. In April he reached a
$1.16 million settlement with the FBI for legal fees
and the annual payments he would have earned had
he reached the normal FBI retirement age of 57. As
part of the settlement, Whitehurst voluntarily
resigned from the agency. He is now leading a
project at the National Whistleblower Center, an
advocacy and research group in Washington, D.C.

The government did not acknowledge and
wrongdoing in either settlement. While the Justice
Department's inspector general found that many of
Whitehurst's allegations could not be substantiated,
enough of his criticisms proved accurate to require
substantial changes in laboratory policies and
practices. (Suro, Roberto. "Whistle-Blower to Oet
Documents," The Washington Post, 12 March 1998,
A13.)

CIA releases Bay of Pigs report after 37
years of secrecy

After 37 years of secrecy, the Central Intelligence
Agency's internal report has been released on the
fiasco at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961.

The CIA's top-secret report on what went wrong
with the U.S.-sponsored invasion of Cuba is a case
study of the costs of secrecy. Written by Lyman
Kirkpatrick, the 150-page report represented the
agency's only investigation of the swift defeat of the
CIA-organized brigade of 1,500 Cuban exiles. For
years, not a word of the report, "The Inspector
Oeneral's Survey of the Cuban Operation," was
declassified.

According to the article, CIA Director George
Tenet deserves credit for declassifying the
controversial document. The CIA has moved to
exempt some 100 million pages of documents from

LESS ACCESS

JANUARY - JUNE 1998

15

its massive secret archives as a result of President
Clinton's 1995 executive order that all national
security documents more than 25 years old be
declassified. Says the author, "By holding history
hostage to the dictates of secrecy, the CIA effectively
refused to address its mistakes and denied the
American people the ability to learn those lessons as
well." (Kombluh, Peter. "The CIA Secret Kept for 37
Years," The Washington Post, 15 March 1998, CI.)

Vice President announces expansion of
community right to know about toxic

chemicals

On April 21 Vice President Gore announced a
major expansion of every community's right to know
about potentially harmful chemicals released into the
air, land and water. Three new initiatives will
accelerate the collection and dissemination of basic
public health data on the most commonly used
industrial chemicals and require closer scrutiny for
those posing the greatest risk to children.

"The public needs to know more," Vice President
Gore said. "People have a right to basic health
effects data about chemicals they may be exposed to
at home, at work or in the environment... Yet for the
majority of industrial chemicals, these data are
simply not available." The administration will
implement measures to fill the data gaps. (The White
House, Office of the Vice President. "Toxics:
Expanding The Public's Right to Know," 21 April
1998.)

Archivist announces measures to make it
easier for public contributions to archival
decisions

Archivist of the United States John W. Carlin has
announced measures to make it easier for the public
to contribute to decisions about which government
agency records are worth keeping and for how long.
The measures include the following:

♦ Federal Register notices from the National
Archives and Records Administration requesting
public comments on records proposed for
destruction will be more informative and

descriptive,

♦ The public will have more information on which
to evaluate proposals and make comments, and

♦ The public may now request not only copies of
the disposal schedules themselves but also
copies of appraisal memorandums prepared by
NARA staff members, and evaluations that
contain additional information concerning the
nature and value of the records covered by a
proposed schedule.

While no federal records are authorized for
destruction without the approval of the Archivist of
the United States, Carlin says, "Now we are making
ii easier for records users in the public to making
sound contributions about what to 'sort out.'"
(Carlin, John W. "Which Records Should We Keep?
How the Public Can Help Decide," The Record:
News from the National Archives and Records
Administration, May 1998, 3.)

GAO report shows lobbyists disclosure law

working

A General Accounting Office report shows an
increase of nearly two and a half times the number of
organizations and individuals that have registered as
lobbyists since the enactment of the Lobbying
Disclosure Act of 1995. GAO found that the law —
passed to close loopholes and improve disclosure —
forced 10,612 new lobbyists to disclose their
activities during the first year the law was in effect.

Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), who authored the
reform, said, "The new law provides a much more
complete picture of who is lobbying whom on what
issues and for how much money. The dramatic
increase in registration brings much needed sunshine
to the lobbying business." (Contiguglia, Francesca.
"GAO Finds Thai Lobbyist Registration Has
Soared," Roll Call, 14 May 1998, 14.)

Wartime Japanese ambassador acts as
unwitting source of information to Allied

forces

Documents recently released by the National
Archives and Records Administration show how

16

ALA WASHINGTON OFFICE

Japan's wartime ambassador to Germany was an
unwitting source of critical information to the United
States.

From 1941 until the fall of Berlin, the reports
Ambassador Hiroshi Oshima telegraphed to the
Foreign Office in Japan were intercepted by the
United States. These reports provided a methodical
accounting of German defenses along the Atlantic
coast in the critical months leading to the Allied
invasion along the coast of Normandy. The reports
were intercepted, decoded, translated and delivered to
U.S. military leaders within hours.

The transcripts of the intercepts, marked "Top
Secret Ultra," are part of a bonanza of World War II
secret files declassified by presidential directive over
the past several years. The information that Oshima
provided supplemented other data the Allies received
fi-om German cable traffic which has not been
declassified. (Fenyvesi, Charles. "Japan's Unwitting
D-Day Spy," The Washington Post, 26 May 1998,
AlO.)

White House urges agencies to use plain
language in government writing

The White House issued a memorandum to the
heads of executive departments and agencies
directing them to make the use of plain language in
government writing a top priority. The statement
said that using plain language sends a clear message
about what the government is doing, what it requires,
and what services it offers. "Plain language saves the
govenmient and the private sector time, effort, and
money." The National Partnership for Reinventing
Government will issue guidance to help government
employees comply with the directives and to explain
more fully the elements of plain language. (The
White House. Memorandum for the Heads of
Executive Departments and Agencies, "Plain
Language in Government Writing," 1 June 1998.)

Semi-annual updates of this publication have been compiled in two indexed volumes covering the periods April 1981 -December
1987 and January 1988-December \99\. Less Access... updates are available for $1.00; the 1981-1987 volume is $7.00; the 1988-
1991 volume is $10.00. To order, contact the American Library Association Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW,
#403, Washington, DC 20004-1701; 202-628-8410, fax 202-628-8419. All orders must be prepaid and must include a self-
addressed mailing label.

LESS ACCESS • JANUARY - JUNE 1998 17

The COGI James Madison Awards
honor champions of the public's right to know

The James Madison Award, presented annually by the Coalition on Government Information, honors
those who have championed, protected and promoted public access to government information and the
public's right to know. It is presented on Freedom of Information Day, March 16, the anniversary of
the birth date of President James Madison. The Coalition on Government Information was established
by the American Library Association in 1986. The Coalition's 50 member organizations share a
concern for loss of public access to federal government information.

Recipients of the James Madison Award:

1998 Ben Bagdikian, journalist, Wayne P. Kelley, former Superintendent of Documents of the

Government Printing Office, Eliot Christian and the U.S. Geological Survey, National

Library of Medicine
1997* Philanthropist and financier George Soros
1996* The National Information Infi-astructure Advisory Council
1995 The Government Printing Office, the State of Maryland's Sailor Project, the Seattle

(WA) Public Library, and the Internet Multicasting Service's Town Hall Project
1994 Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary and former ALA Washington Office Director Eileen

D. Cooke
1993 The legislators who led the passage of P.L. 103-40, the GPO Access Act: Vice President

Al Gore, original sponsor of the GPO Gateway to Government Act when he was in the

Senate; Senators Wendell Ford (D-KY) and Ted Stevens (R-AK); Representatives

Charlie Rose (D-NC) and Bill Thomas (R-CA)
1 992 Journalist Nina Totenberg, author Scott Armstrong, and C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb
1 99 1 Representative Don Edwards (D-CA)
1990 Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA), journalist

Philip Shabecoff , and the Office of Toxic Substances of the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency
1989 Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT)

* Honorary citations also were presented to several individuals and organizations in 1996 and
1997.

The Coalition seeks nominations for the annual James Madison Award and for honorary citations
in December of each year. Send nominations to:

Coalition on Government Information

c/o American Library Association Washington Office

1301 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 403

Washington, D.C. 20004-1701

tel: 800-941-8478

fax: 202-628-8419

e-mail: alawash@alawash.org

LESS ACCESS • JANUARY - JUNE 1998